diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 6952112d8..cedad0d3d 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@
 
 ## Unreleased
 * [Fixed] Fix missing transport attribute when flushing telemetry.
+* [Added] Add ability to disable statsd via new `statsd_disable` parameter in `initialize`.
 
 ## v0.52.0 / 2025-07-08
 
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 2bb40165b..a6d13bfc6 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -73,7 +73,9 @@ tags = ["version:1", "application:web"]
 api.Event.create(title=title, text=text, tags=tags)
 ```
 
-In development, you can disable any `statsd` metric collection using `DD_DOGSTATSD_DISABLE=True` (or any not-empty value).
+In development, you can disable any `statsd` metric collection by either:
+1. Setting environment variable `DD_DOGSTATSD_DISABLE` to `True`, `true`, `yes`, or `1`.
+2. Setting the `statsd_disable` option to `True` in the `initialize` function.
 
 ## DogStatsD
 
diff --git a/datadog/__init__.py b/datadog/__init__.py
index 50f1d0475..a7e0a4559 100644
--- a/datadog/__init__.py
+++ b/datadog/__init__.py
@@ -37,6 +37,7 @@ def initialize(
     api_host=None,  # type: Optional[str]
     statsd_host=None,  # type: Optional[str]
     statsd_port=None,  # type: Optional[int]
+    statsd_disable=False,  # type: bool
     statsd_disable_aggregation=True,  # type: bool
     statsd_disable_buffering=True,  # type: bool
     statsd_aggregation_flush_interval=0.3,  # type: float
@@ -76,6 +77,9 @@ def initialize(
     :param statsd_port: Port of DogStatsd server or statsd daemon
     :type statsd_port: port
 
+    :param statsd_disable: Disable any statsd metric collection (default False).
+    :type statsd_disable: bool
+
     :param statsd_disable_buffering: Enable/disable statsd client buffering support
                                      (default: True).
     :type statsd_disable_buffering: boolean
@@ -151,6 +155,11 @@ def initialize(
     if statsd_constant_tags:
         statsd.constant_tags += statsd_constant_tags
 
+    if statsd_disable:
+        statsd.disable_statsd()
+    else:
+        statsd.enable_statsd()
+
     if statsd_disable_aggregation:
         statsd.disable_aggregation()
     else:
diff --git a/datadog/dogstatsd/base.py b/datadog/dogstatsd/base.py
index 5f9bd2f63..9079ee1f9 100644
--- a/datadog/dogstatsd/base.py
+++ b/datadog/dogstatsd/base.py
@@ -158,6 +158,7 @@ def __init__(
         port=DEFAULT_PORT,                      # type: int
         max_buffer_size=None,                   # type: None
         flush_interval=DEFAULT_BUFFERING_FLUSH_INTERVAL,  # type: float
+        disable_statsd=False,                   # type: bool
         disable_aggregation=True,               # type: bool
         disable_buffering=True,                 # type: bool
         namespace=None,                         # type: Optional[Text]
@@ -250,6 +251,10 @@ def __init__(
         it overrides the default value.
         :type flush_interval: float
 
+        :disable_statsd: Disable any statsd metric collection (default False).
+        Overridden by DD_DOGSTATSD_DISABLE enviroment variable.
+        :type disable_statsd: bool
+
         :disable_aggregation: If true, metrics (Count, Gauge, Set) are no longer aggregated by the client
         :type disable_aggregation: bool
 
@@ -396,10 +401,10 @@ def __init__(
         telemetry_port = os.environ.get("DD_TELEMETRY_PORT", telemetry_port) or port
 
         # Check enabled
-        if os.environ.get("DD_DOGSTATSD_DISABLE") not in {"True", "true", "yes", "1"}:
-            self._enabled = True
-        else:
+        if os.environ.get("DD_DOGSTATSD_DISABLE", disable_statsd) in {True, "True", "true", "yes", "1"}:
             self._enabled = False
+        else:
+            self._enabled = True
 
         # Connection
         self._max_buffer_len = max_buffer_len
@@ -693,6 +698,12 @@ def disable_buffering(self, is_disabled):
                 self._send = self._send_to_buffer
                 self._start_flush_thread()
 
+    def disable_statsd(self):
+        self._enabled = False
+
+    def enable_statsd(self):
+        self._enabled = True
+
     def disable_aggregation(self):
         with self._config_lock:
             # If the toggle didn't change anything, this method is a noop
diff --git a/tests/unit/dogstatsd/test_statsd.py b/tests/unit/dogstatsd/test_statsd.py
index 6b2da3b17..32dbbca6b 100644
--- a/tests/unit/dogstatsd/test_statsd.py
+++ b/tests/unit/dogstatsd/test_statsd.py
@@ -1164,6 +1164,20 @@ def _test_flush_interval(self, socket_kind):
             u'page.®views®:1|c\n',
             fake_socket.recv(2, no_wait=True)
         )
+
+    def test_statsd_disabled_dgram(self):
+        self._test_statsd_disabled(socket.SOCK_DGRAM)
+
+    def test_statsd_disabled_stream(self):
+        self._test_statsd_disabled(socket.SOCK_STREAM)
+
+    def _test_statsd_disabled(self, socket_kind):
+        dogstatsd = DogStatsd(disable_statsd=True, telemetry_min_flush_interval=0)
+        fake_socket = FakeSocket(socket_kind=socket_kind)
+        dogstatsd.socket = fake_socket
+        dogstatsd.increment('_test_statsd_disabled')
+        dogstatsd.flush()
+        self.assertIsNone(fake_socket.recv(no_wait=True))
     
     def test_aggregation_buffering_simultaneously_dgram(self):
         self._test_aggregation_buffering_simultaneously(socket.SOCK_DGRAM)
@@ -2209,4 +2223,4 @@ def test_transport_attribute_present_on_connection_error(self):
         statsd.gauge('test.metric', 1)
 
         assert statsd.socket is None
-        assert statsd._transport is not None
\ No newline at end of file
+        assert statsd._transport is not None